'We will not allow the Ivory Coast win to distract us': Mannetti

15 Jan 2018 14:10pm

By Hesron Kapanga
MARRAKECH, 15 JAN (NAMPA)  The Brave Warriors win against Ivory Coast will not derail their focus of advancing from the group stages in the African Nations Championship (Chan), coach Ricardo Mannetti has said.
The senior national football teams coach was speaking during a media conference here after his team beat Ivory Coast 1-0 in their opening match of the competition on Sunday.
Mannetti said winning against Ivory Coast gave a lot of people at home hope but at the same time, it will put pressure on the players as Namibians will now expect them to do well in all their future games.
I am going to give the players a day off and we will go back to normal after that. We have Uganda to prepare for, and they are a team that has a completely different style of play from Ivory Coast. We will have to be ready when we face them on Thursday, he said.
The Brave Warriors are in Group B alongside Ivory Coast, Uganda and Zambia.
After their opening Group B matches Namibia are second on the log, level on three points with group leader Zambia, who have a better goal difference after they beat Uganda 3-1 at the same stadium on Sunday night.
Addressing the media after his team lost to Zambia, Ugandas coach Sebestien Desabre said their aim at the championship is to win all their remaining games.
If we are to make it through to the next round of the competition, we will have to collect the maximum points in our remaining two games, Desabre, who has only been with the team for 10 days, said.
He added that despite being new to the team, he believes in his players ability to do well in their remaining fixtures.
I was not impressed with todays performance from the players but I am hopeful that will change when we step on to the field of play on Thursday, he said.
Meanwhile, Mannetti said they will use the momentum gained in their first win at the competition as motivation to do well in their other fixtures.
This was Namibias first win at a Confederation of African Football (CAF) final tournament. They have been to three CAF competitions since 1998.
The Brave Warriors next game will be against Uganda on 18 January at the Grand Stade de Marrakech.
(NAMPA)
HK/AS/HP